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=Participatory Culture and the inherent Gaps=

Henry Jenkins starts out his paper by introducing the notion of participatory culture and goes on to define it (p.7) as a culture with the following key characteristics:

1. relatively low barriers to artistic expression and civic engagement 2. strong support for creating and sharing one’s creations with others

3. some type of informal mentorship whereby what is known by the most experienced is passed along to novices

4. where members believe that their contributions matter

5.where members feel some degree of social connection with one another (at the least they care what other people think about what they have created).

Some educators have argued that youth today learn the skill set required to become full participants in this emerging culture on their own pretty the much a baby learns how to talk by simply interacting with this new culture. Jenkins disagrees and highlights three problems with this thinking (p. 12-18):

The Participation Gap — The unequal access to the opportunities, experiences, skills, and knowledge that will prepare youth for full participation in the world of tomorrow.

The Transparency Problem — The challenges young people face in learning to see clearly the ways that media shape perceptions of the world.

The Ethics Challenge — The breakdown of traditional forms of professional training and socialization that might prepare young people for their increasingly public roles as mediamakers and community participants.

Topic for Discussion
Read pages 12-18 in [|Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century], and open up a discussion on where our students stand with regards to this participatory culture and the three problems highlighted by Jenkins. Pleae use the discussion tab at the top of this page to post your comments. This discussion will help us in setting the direction for the next part of our PLC. back to main page back to process page